The Need To Get Away
by jayhogartismyangel
Summary: Manuella Santos gets tired of all the drama that her life holds and decides that she needs to leave. Ending up in DC,she meets Lance Sweets. Will he be able to heal her? Or will she be forever broken?
1. Prologue

**The Need To Get Away**

**Summary:After facing another tragedy in life,Manuella Santos runs off to Washington,DC and ends up meeting Lance Sweets. Will something develop between them?**

**Prologue:Fleeing**

Manuella Santos sighed and slid her headphones on,leaning her head back into her seat as she shut her eyes slowly. It had been a rough couple of weeks. From her audition with a Hollywood director for a part in a movie,to competing for the main character role against Paige who'd been a rival of her's since high school,to coming face to face with one ex boyfriend and then the other,and then to what had happened just a few days ago with learning that Sean Cameron had died in Iraq a fallen soldier of the war life had definitly taken a toll. She hadn't even gone to the funeral. Instead,she'd ended up in bed with Jay Hogart who had been Sean's best friend and her boyfriend at one time and Manny had been good friends with Sean what with him being _her _best friend,Emma Nelson's on and off boyfriend and all. Their sleeping together again after so much time had passed had been a mistake that shouldn't have happened.

Add that to what happened the year before with JT being stabbed in the back during a party that she'd planned to make herself feel just a little bit better about her breakup with Craig Manning who'd become a druggie---a party that had been JT's idea to have for Liberty for her birthday then going to the hospital with Sean,Emma,Toby,and Liberty and learning that the doctors had tried everything to save JT but it hadn't worked because he'd been stabbed in the aorta and those were reason enough to want to escape the life she'd had in Canada. She hadn't even went to Sean's funeral. With her being in LA at the time,she'd totally missed it. That was how she'd ended up on this plane,heading for Washington,DC. She knew that it was a crazy and impulsive move but the frequent whirlwind of drama her life held had become too much.

"Attention passengers,this is your pilot speaking. We will be landing at our destination in five minutes. Please stay in your seats and don't move about the cabin." The voice on the loudspeaker said before it shut off.

Manny looked out the window as the plane began it's descent. Hopefully her new life in DC would be what she needed. It had to be. She'd spent all the money she had to by a plane ticket to get here and only had three hundred dollars left. She'd have to find a way to divide the money between food and a hotel this week. She'd have to take the bus for transportation and would need to find a job to earn money to buy herself an apartment. Her parents and friends of course had no idea. She'd written notes in her hotel room after having sex with Jay. He'd been asleep at the time which gave her just the right amount of moments to write him,her mother and father,and Emma and Liberty notes. Notes that she'd told Jay in his letter to give to them. And then she'd redressed back into the clothes Jay had recently stripped off of her,not even taking time to get in the shower before she grabbed her suitcase and was out the door,and out on the sidewalk of her hotel,hailing a cab.

She saw the airport come into view as the plane landed into a stop. This was the beginning of her new life.

**Next Chapter:Manny gets off her plane and hails a cab to take her to a hotel,Manny gets lost after going for a walk and ends up running into Sweets---literally.**


	2. Chapter One

**The Need to Get Away**

**Chapter One:Sight-seeing and Run-ins.**

Manny smiled as she stepped off of the plane. This was the start of a brand new life, she just knew it! She looked around the crowded airport with a sigh. She needed to hail a cab and get a hotel room. Slowly, she walked out the doors of the airport. She saw a cab at the curb. A man who seemed to be a lawyer had just gotten out of it with a blonde woman clinging to his arm. Manny rolled her eyes and caught the door to the cab before it could slam shut. She sat her suitcase on the floorboard and looked at the driver. Giving her most charming smile, dimples flashing she asked, "Hi. Could you please take me to the nearest hotel?"

The driver nodded gruffly. "Thirty dollars." He said with a growl.

She drew her wallet out from her purse and handed him thirty dollars. Her head turned torward the window as the car began to drive onward, her eyes closing.

The cab came to a stop and her dark eyes fluttered open. They were parked infront of a Days' Inn. Thanking the cab driver,she grabbed her suitcase and pulled it into the lobby of the hotel with her.

----

Ten minutes later, she had slipped the key card into the door and opened it. The room wasn't really anything big and impressive. It had a Queen sized bed with a nightstand beside it, a desk with a mirror above it next to the entertainment center that housed a television. There was a bathroom with a shower. It was like most other hotels that Manny had been in, in her lifetime.

She brought her suitcase farther into the room and sat it by the closet before she took a running jump to the bed. She sighed as she buried her head in one of the comfortable pillows. She really needed to take a shower. And she wanted to explore and sight-see Washington,DC. Sighing sadly,she grabbed her suitcase and opened it up, retrieving a pair of sunny yellow jean shorts and a white spaghetti strap top with a silver and yellow butterfly in the center,just over her heart as well as a change of underwear and bra.

She got out of the shower ten minutes later and wrapped one of the white towels hanging on the rod by the sink into her thick, black hair. She changed into her outfit,put on a touch of lipgloss and some golden-brown eyeshadow and had combed her hair before pulling into a side ponytail. After gargling with mouth wash, she smiled at her reflection and walked out of the bathroom to grab her purse, MP3 player and keycard which she uncermoniously shoved into her purse before she hightailed it out the door.

It was a nice day so she decided to walk instead of taking a bus. It would be easier to sight-see that way.

An hour later, she decided to make her way back to her hotel where she would order a pizza that could be delivered to her room. The only problem was that she had no idea where she was. Her feet were beginning to ache from walking so far and her stomach was growling in hunger. She let a moan and threw back her head pitifully,squeezing her eyes shut. Suddenly, she slammed into someone.

"Ow." She heard someone groan from beside her on the ground.

"I am _so _sorry! I'm lost and I wasn't paying attention,I'm hungry and I am new to DC!" She rambled, standing and looking down at the person she had run into, holding out her hand to help him up.

He reached out and grabbed her hand, letting her pull him up. He smiled down at her thankfully. "No problem. It was an accident, like you said. I'm Lance Sweets." He gave her a smile and enveloped one of her small hands in his.

Manny gave him a dimpled grin. "Manuella Santos. I go by Manny though." She said as she shook his hand.

"You said that you were hungry before. I know a good place to eat. I'm supposed to meet a couple friends of mine there. I could take you there and buy you something." He offered. "Then, I can help you find your hotel."

"You...are...my...hero!" She said as she wrapped a tiny hand around his arm and smiled at him brightly.

Sweets smiled at her, feeling a tingling in his arm at her gentle touch.

-----

A few minutes later, Sweets and Manny were walking into the Royal Diner. Manny felt Sweets grab her hand softly and lead her over to a table where a woman with auburn hair, a little past her shoulders and blue eyes sat across from a man who had dark hair and brown eyes. The pair seemed to be arguing about something.

"I'm telling ya Bones, the woman is guilty!" The man was saying to the woman across from him.

"Is your gut telling you that?" The woman challenged, blue eyes flashing.

Manny looked up at Sweets, raising an eyebrow. "Do they always do that?"

Sweets looked at her with a half smile on his lips that made him look positively boyish and innocent. "Yep. Everyday. It's totally hot!"

She raised an amused eyebrow at him, a quirky smile upon her full lips.

He flushed in embarassement for a moment before speaking again. "Hey Agent Booth, Doctor Brennan."

The woman looked up and smiled pleasantly at them. "Hey Sweets. Who's your friend?"

Manny stepped forward with a smile. "I'm Manny Santos." She said brightly as she shook the woman's hand.

"Temperance Brennan." Brennan told her. "This is my partner---"

The man across from her cut her off with a wave of his hand before he turned and gave Manny what people referred to as his, "charm smile." "I'm Seeley Booth." He told her as he shook her hand.

Sweets took a seat beside Booth while Manny took one beside Brennan.

A waitress came over to the table then and smiled at it's four occupants. "Hey darlins'. What can I get ya'll?" She asked as she handed Brennan her tea and Booth his coffee.

Sweets looked at Manny for a moment. "Their burgers are really good." He told her.

She smiled at him as she ran a hand down her long ponytail. "Then that is what I'll have, please. I'd also like some....onion rings and a chocolate milkshake to drink."

"I'll have the same." Sweets said as he handed the waitress their menus.

Booth and Brennan ordered as well and the waitress bustled off, coming back minutes later with Sweets and Manny's shakes.

"So Manny, what made you come to DC?" Booth asked as he took a sip of coffee.

The eighteen year old girl felt her throat run dry at his question and tears filled her eyes as she remembered exactly what brought her here.....

**To be continued...**

**Next Chapter: Manny tells them why she came to DC, Sweets takes Manny sightseeing, Sweets takes Manny back to her hotel.**


End file.
